Computer systems may be formed using a variety of hardware and software components. Certain computer systems may, for example, comprise a single processor or multiple processors. Furthermore, individual computers may be connected in intra- or inter-network arrangements to form a larger, distributed computer system. A data storage and retrieval system many times comprises such a distributed computer system.
Such a data storage and retrieval system typically includes a plurality of devices, each dedicated to a particular function. These devices include one or more external host computers in combination with a plurality of data input devices, data output devices, and data storage devices. Such data input/output/storage devices include modems, scanners, hard disk drive units, magnetic tape units, optical disk units, sound/video cards, network adapters, printers, SCSI ports, keyboards, and pointing devices, amongst others. It is often a challenge to configure a computer system such that each of these devices has access to the computer's resources such as interrupt request lines, direct memory access (DMA) channels, memory or input and output address space, etc.
As the complexity of a computer system, such as a data storage and retrieval system, increases, so does the complexity of obtaining a working configuration. Thus, an increase in configuration time is necessarily encountered in configuring computer systems that include multiple processors, multiple host computers, multiple data input devices, multiple data output devices, and/or multiple data storage devices.
In certain data storage and retrieval systems, a plurality of host computers and data input/output/storage devices are typically connected to a number of direct access storage devices (DASDs) comprised of hard disk drives (HDDs). The DASDs may be organized in a redundant array of independent disks, i.e., a RAID array. A RAID array is comprised of multiple, independent disks organized into a large, high-performance logical disk. A controller stripes data across the multiple disks in the array and accesses the disks in parallel to achieve higher data transfer rates.
Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that many computer systems utilize different operating systems, including but not limited to UNIX, DOS, OS/2 and Windows platforms. In many cases obtaining a working configuration is dependent upon the assignment preferences of the operating system.
What is needed is a method to configure a computer system, such as a data storage and retrieval system, which minimizes the time period between power-up/reset of the system and the time when that system is placed in a ready state. In addition, a need thus exists for a configuration method that is applicable to different operating systems.